Small step stools are commonly needed in households, most of which contain at least a few storage areas located too high from the floor for easy access. In particular, when there are small children present in the home, such stools may be needed in areas such as bathrooms and other sink or counter facilities to render such facilities accessible while the children are growing up. Such a stool should ideally be able to be moved easily to and from the floor in front of a sink so that the area can also be used by the persons of normal height. In addition, it must of course be entirely stable against sidewise motion while in use.
An ordinary short stool, with its legs cut to the necessary height, may be employed. It must, however, be transported to and from the site of use, and may not be stable enough for a very young child. One kick stool, of known design, is easy to transport because it rolls readily across the floor with a kick and becomes stable when stepped upon. However, it occupies space on another area of the floor, which can be a problem in small quarters such as a bathroom.
The present invention obviates these difficulties. It is a stool which has two major parts. By reassembling the parts it can be used either as a free-standing stool of traditional design and useful height, or instead, as a folding stool. When in the folding stool configuration, one part is fastened to the lowest shelf in the typical sink cabinet while the other part, pivoting outward from the first part, can be pulled out by a child for temporary use as a stool. The vertical relationship between the parts is adjustable for adapting the device to the cabinet shelf height. When the child has grown to the point that the folding stool is unnecessary at the sink or counter, it may be removed altogether from its mounting in the cabinet, and reassembled easily into the free-standing configuration for general household use, or for the child's use in reaching high shelves.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a supporting stool for lifting a small child to the necessary level for use of a sink or countertop atop a base cabinet.
A further object of the invention is to provide such a stool which is stably mounted against sidewise motion but which can easily be moved away from the standing site so the area can be used by others.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a stool which may be converted into a single free-standing step stool when no longer needed at the cabinet.